2,400 photovoltaic panels have been installed; the plant will generate 300 megawatts of clean electricity per year. This will save approximately 80 tons of oil, by reducing the equivalent of 225,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions from the Vatican.

The plan to convert the Vatican to renewable sources was ideated, carried out and realized by a young German physicist, after a very special meeting.

Franck Asbeck
President, Solarworld AG
Some six years ago I got an audience with Pope John Paul II and I told him, when I showed him a solar cell, my first self-produced solar cell, I said: Father, with a little bit of sand or silicone and the sun we can produce electricity. And he simply said: Yes, my son, God can do everything. And that was very good inspiration for me to work further on and to build up a big factory to produce these solar cells.

In six years he built a company where 2,500 employees work today. And he could donate to the Vatican this installation, for the cost of one and a half million Euros.

Msgr. Renato Boccardo
Secretary-General, Vatican Governatorate
With this initiative the Vatican would like to send a message not only to the Church but to whole world. With the Creation, we have received a natural heritage; we must keep it, we must respect it, we should profit by it as much as we can.

Carlo Rubbia
Winner Nobel Prize for Physics
Ten years ago nobody talked about renewable energy, whereas today everybody talks about it and tomorrow probably even more will ... Were going from talking to doing! The fact that the Vatican had the ability to respond directly, transparently and with readiness is an extremely positive sign: it's something that should be taken as an example and to be reflected upon.

This is only the beginning of the Vatican's Green Revolution. By the year 2020, the Holy See hopes solar power will provide one fifth of its energy needs. If successful, it will be the first European country to achieve this goal.